This past month has been a bit of a roller-coaster for our finances

After son #1 was hit by the truck, I’ve been closely monitoring the bills coming in. I will be faced with $10,000 out of pocket when all is said and done. I will be able to pay a good chunk of that with money I have set aside in my Health Savings Account.

The truck driver who hit him had the lowest legal insurance amount available, so I may be out that money (and other expenses – cost of a new bike, clothes, etc.). I may consult a lawyer to see if there’s any way to at least get those items paid out of the settlement before my health insurance goes after it all.

So that’s kind of the bad news. On the good news side, well – he’s alive!! He’s walking again and is going to go back to school (he’s been home-schooled while he was laid up) next week. And because I’m in a good place financially, this doesn’t cripple us. As a solo mom (widow with 2 boys, didn’t receive life insurance, etc.), I’m pretty proud that we’re in a good place. In fact, by tracking money in Mint.com (LOVE IT!), I can track my net worth monthly – it’s so fun to see my money doing the work, not me! (Over $100,000 increase in the last 6 months.)

I’m starting to dabble in peer-to-peer lending via The Lending Club, instead of the stock market or ING savings account and am looking at over 10% return which is lovely. I could take that money and work to pay off the house off earlier, but this makes more sense, especially since I’m about 19 years away from retirement.

I’ve been decluttering like mad and dropped off a minivan worth of stuff at the local auction house – not high-end stuff, but yard sale type items. It looks like I may get about $1000 when all is said and done with that. I continue to go to yard sales to upgrade my own household, as well as stumbling upon screaming deals that then go to the auction house for quick profits.

I’ve also been doing dog-boarding off and on. It’s not a huge amount of money ($25 per day) but it’s certainly easy money. It all adds up.

Basically, I still continue to be frugal whenever possible so that I can do the fun things (travel, save, invest, etc.) when I want.